Thoreau Essay

Essay Summary of Thoreau
Synopsis Economy: This is the first chapter and also the longest by far. Thoreau begins by outlining
his project: a two–year and two–month stay at a crude cabin in the woods near Walden Pond. He
does this, he says, in order to illustrate the spiritual benefits of a simplified lifestyle. He easily
supplies the four necessities of life (food, shelter, clothing, and fuel). He meticulously records his
expenditures and earnings, demonstrating his understanding of "economy," as he builds his house
and buys and grows food. For a home and freedom, he spends a mere $25. Complementary Verses:
This chapter consists entirely of a poem, "The Pretensions of Poverty," by seventeenth–century
English poet Thomas Carew. The poem criticizes those who...show more content...
To him, the railroad symbolizes the destruction of the good old pastoral way of life. Following is a
description of the sounds audible from his cabin: the church bells ringing, carriages rattling and
rumbling, cows lowing, whip–poor–wills singing, owls hooting, frogs croaking, and cockerels
crowing. Solitude: Thoreau rhapsodizes about the beneficial effects of living solitary and close
to nature. He loves to be alone, for "I never found the companion that was so companionable as
solitude," and he is never lonely as long as he is close to nature. He believes there is no great
value to be had by rubbing shoulders with the mass of humanity. Visitors: Thoreau writes about the
visitors to his cabin. Among the 25 or 30 visitors is a young Canadian woodchopper, whom
Thoreau idealizes as approaching the ideal man, and a runaway slave, whom Thoreau helps on his
journey to freedom in Canada. The Bean–Field: Thoreau relates his efforts to cultivate two and a half
acres of beans. He plants in June and spends his summer mornings weeding the field with a hoe.
He sells most of the crop, and his small profit of $8.71 covers his needs. The Village: Thoreau
visits the small town of Concord every day or two to hear the news, which he finds "as refreshing
in its way as the rustle of the leaves." Nevertheless, he fondly but rather contemptuously compares
Concord to a gopher colony. In late summer, he is arrested for refusing to pay
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Thoreau's Message in Walden Essay
Thoreau's Message in Walden
In Walden, Henry D. Thoreau presented a radical and controversial perspective on society that was
far beyond its time. In a period where growth both economically and territorially was seen as
necessary for the development of a premature country, Thoreau felt the opposite.Thoreau was a man
in search of growth within himself and was not concerned with outward improvements in him or
society. In the chapter entitled "economy," he argued that people were too occupied with work to
truly appreciate what life has to offer. He felt the root of this obsession with work was created
through the misconstrued perception that material needs were a necessity, rather than a hindrance to
true happiness and the...show more content...
Since less work was required; people had more time to appreciate nature and thus enjoyed a happier
life.
Thoreau was very doubtful of the ideas that outward improvements could bring improvements to
one's inner peace. One clear illustration of Thoreau's resistance to progress can be found in the
chapter, "Sounds," where he voiced his criticism on technological advancements. At first he was
annoyed with the sound created by the passing trains which hindered his ability to hear the
chirping of the birds. As he stated, " The whistle of the locomotive penetrates my woods summer
and winter, sounding like the scream of a hawk sailing over some farmer's yard, informing me that
many restless city merchants are arriving within the circle of the town..."(78). Trains also reminded
him of the businessman and tradesman involved in manipulation and profits. Thoreau believed that
a technological advancement such as the train would give people a false impression of heightened
freedom, for trains were able to travel to areas never before imagined and in a time that was
thought impossible. He was worried that people would prefer to take the train than "the road less
traveled." By taking trains, people missed out on the beauty of nature. Then he realized that the
trains had transported people to many different areas and that it had enabled the people to experience
new things.
Thoreau showed his disapproval

Thoreau And Individualism
While Thoreau recognizes the people's affinity toward order, he abhors the fact that states
misconstrue the original grounds for government: protection of individual rights. It is, however,
ironic that the noisy, complicated government of Thoreau's time had only a fraction of the
bureaucracy of the government we have today. This illuminates the extent to which modern society,
let alone current day society, contrasts the natural locus of human interaction. – 69 words
This sentiment correlates with the massive amount of incarceration in the U.S. for often minor
crimes. The idea that the law is synonymous with morality is preposterous, and alludes to a
supposition that everyone's morals are the same. Personally, the law should only protect individual
rights by punishing acts by individuals that encroach upon the rights of others. Since everyone shares
the same desire to free himself from the tyranny of his neighbor, such a policy would vastly reduce
the amount of incarceration and protect to an even greater extent individual liberties. – 93 words
Thoreau's allusion to soldiers in the Mexican war is comparable to 21st century military decisions.
For example, the decision to declare war on Iraq in 2003 illustrates how individuals in a position of
authority can command blindly obeying soldiers to their will. Soldiers are the very antitheses of
individualism because they hinder any form of conscience and personal morality. – 60 words
It seems to me that the electoral college

Essay about Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau, a name heard endlessly by American Literature students, has contributed his
outrageous views to society even after his death. Lectures and texts let his perceptions live on
through teachers and professors that are all agreed on the significance of his writing to the
transcendentalistic period. Definitely worth the merit he receives for his contributions, Henry
Thoreau's views are nonconformist and thought provoking. "If a man does not keep pace with his
companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he
hears, however measured or far away" (Thoreau, 14). Thoreau himself marched to a different
drummer, and it is this aspect of all great men that...show more content...
Derleth even describes the family as, "a closely–knit family of lifelong duration"(2). Henry's father
was a grave, quiet man, yet not prepossessing like many men of the time period. He was likable, but
his tendency toward deafness made it hard to communicate with him. Henry's mother was an
opinionated, insightful woman, and her lively and bustling presence often brought these opinions to
the surface. Derleth states, "Mrs. Thoreau... could sometimes make sharp observations about her
fellow citizens, though she was not in any sense mean, and she was very much liked" (2). Mrs.
Thoreau was clearly the dominant force in the household, and the house was regularly filled with
women. Aunt Louis Dunbar, Henry's Grandmother Minott before she died, and none other than Lucy
Jackson Brown the sister of Ralph Waldo Emerson's second wife, were all welcomed boarders at the
Thoreau household.
Henry spent most of his life in the Concord Village and town, which at this time was a scarcely
populated town of just about two thousand people. He had, "... a boyhood like many boyhoods..."
(Derleth, 3); he drove cows to the pasture, fished, ran barefoot, built bonfires at Walden pond during
evening fishing episodes, and even hunted a little, though he gave it up pretty quickly. Whereas he
may have been known for having a good sense of humor and easy geniality within his family, he
was a grave boy. It was this fact that

Henry David Thoreau Essay
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was a man who expressed his beliefs of society, government, and mankind
while living under his own self–criticism. Thoreau believed he had many weaknesses which made
him a failure. This strong disapproval of himself contrasted with his powerful words and strong
actions. These contradictions led to some of Thoreau's greatest pieces of literature.
Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts on July 12, 1817, in his grandmother's
house. Thoreau believed that Concord was, "the most estimable place in all the world, and in the
very nick of time, too" (Harding 4). Though Thoreau was born in
"the era of good feeling," his family experienced many misfortunes, politically, physically,...show
more content...
That sweet solitude my spirit seemed so early to require at once gave the preference to this recess
among the pines, where almost sunshine and shadow were the only inhabitants that varied the scene,
over the tumultuous and varied city, as if it had found its proper nursery" (13–14). It is apparent that
Thoreau associates Walden Pond with his happiest memories.
Thoreau was a deeply religious man, but disliked church. He was very serious as a child and
loved his solitude (Schneider 4). Thoreau says he was truly happiest when he could be by himself
(25). In 1828, Thoreau and his older brother John, to whom he was closest, went to Concord
Academy. Henry was the smarter of the two and in 1833, was sent to
Harvard University, where he did very well. It was there that Thoreau was first exposed to writing
publicly when the Editor of the Dial, which is a periodical for a transcendentalist group, gave him a
job. In 1837, Thoreau graduated form Harvard and this is where he first heard Ralph Waldo Emerson
speak. It was at this time that he began writing his journal.
He started teaching in Concord's Center School for a brief period of two weeks. Thoreau was told
to enforce corporate punishment in the classroom and he resigned. He ended up working in his
father's pencil factory where he improved American pencils. He did this by improving the method of
mixing graphite which he discovered by researching the
European

Thoreau Persuasive Essay
Continuously, Thoreau also wanted to flee society, but for different reasons than McCandless.
Thoreau wanted to flee society because he believed that life moved too quickly and he wanted to
try and find the true meaning of life. To begin, nature was the best setting for him to do this because
he did not have to follow society's fast–paced life, which he believed allowed for no time to
appreciate and find the meaning of life. Detached from society and in nature, he can set his own,
slower pace and therefore spend more time pondering and appreciating life. To begin, Moreover,
Thoreau believes that society moves too quickly, and while part of civilization he could not
appreciate life. This is shown when Thoreau explains we are forced to keep up with the pace of a
society that has telegraphs and cars that move at 30 miles an hour (which was very fast for the time),
that doesn't allow us time to slow down (Thoreau 60). Attempting to keep up with the fast–paced
society is so preoccupying that we end each day with no time to truly understand and appreciate
life. Leading into my next claim, Thoreau wanted to flee society to find the true meaning of life.
This is shown in the quote, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front
only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I
came to die, discover that I had not lived"(Thoreau 59). Something that living in the woods taught
Thoreau is how similar some animals are to humans. An example of this is when Thoreau observes
the red and black ants during their battle. Thoreau compares the ants and the humans when he says
that there is no war in American history that had the number of soldiers as the red and black ants,
and also no war where the troops were as patriotic and courageous (Thoreau 149). Thoreau didn't
want to be dying and have not figured out the meaning of life, and by going into the woods, he felt
as though he learned some things without being bogged down by distractions, such as the
materialistic items and the company of others.
Moreover, both McCandless and Thoreau sought solitude because they preferred it, but McCandless
also wanted to prove he could survive alone. The first reason

My Life with Thoreau Essay
It was my high school teacher, Anna Shaughnessy, who introduced me to Henry David Thoreau.
His Walden was not part of the course of study. She asked whether I knew of this Massachusetts
writer. I didn't. Without scaring me off by proclaiming how great he was, she said he had lived
and died in obscurity. But not like some romantic poet in a dusty garret. He had done all kinds of
work for a living–been a schoolteacher, surveyor, pencil–maker, gardener,carpenter, mason, lecturer,
naturalist, as well as keeper of a personal journal into which he wrote two million words.
"Thoreau was born in 1817, about a hundred years before you," Miss Shaughnessey said. "But I
think, when you read him, you'll find his ideas, his way of looking at...show more content...
But soon her drew me deep into his story of his adventure living in his cabin at Walden Pond. His
book has the rhythm and flow of the changing seasons. And out of that pattern came his central
symbol–rebirth and renewal, not only of the world around us, but of our own inner development.
Years after my first encounter with Thoreau, when I was deeply troubled by the course my life was
taking, I went back to Walden once more. On the last page I read this passage:
'Every one has heard the story which has gone the rounds of New England, of a strong and
beautiful bug which came out of the dry leaf of an old table of apple–tree wood, which had stood in
a farmer's kitchen for sixty years, first in Connecticut, and afterward in Massachusetts–from an egg
deposited in the living tree many years earlier still, as appeared by counting the annual layers
beyond it; which was heard gnawing out for several weeks, hatched perchance by the heat of an
urn. Who does not feel his faith in a resurrection and immortality strengthened by hearing of this?
Who knows what beautiful and winged life, whose egg has been buried for ages under many
concentric layers of woodenness in the dead dry life of society, deposited at first in the alburnum of
the green and living tree, which has gradually been converted into the semblance of its
well–seasoned tomb–heard perchance gnawing out now for years by the astonished family of man,
as they sat around the festive board–may unexpectedly come forth

Henry Thoreau Essay
Born in 1817, in Concord, Henry David Thoreau became one of the greatest writers among the
American Renaissance. Thoreau based his whole philosophy on the fact that man needed to get rid
of material things in order to be an individual. An exquisitely educated man, Thoreau went to
Harvard, which placed heavy emphasis on the classics. Thoreau studied a curriculum that included
grammar and composition, mathematics, English, history, and various philosophies. He also spoke
fluently in Italian, French, German, and Spanish. After his graduation in 1837, Thoreau became a
teacher. He and his brother John, however, closed the school in 1841, for Thoreau knew writing was
his passion. He kept a journal beginning in 1837, and most think he wrote...show more content...
"I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude." Thoreau liked
solitude, a time when he wrote from his soul and was truly alone. Thoreau's love for nature was one
of the most powerful aspects evident in Walden. Considered by some to be the father of the
environmental movement, Thoreau referred back to nature in everything he wrote from essays to
political speeches. As a simple man, Thoreau did not own many material things. For he believed that
to own material objects were an obstacle, rather than an advantage. He saw that most people
measured self–worth in terms of what they owned, rather than their spiritual and intellectual gifts.
Thoreau proposed to live as simply as possible and determine what he needed for basic human
survival. "My greatest skill is to want but little." He grew his own food, cleaned his
own cabin, and often arranged his affairs so he had to work as little as possible. Published on
August 9, 1854, Walden sold two thousand copies. For one dollar, people read into the depths of
Thoreau's life at Walden Pond and all his views on everything from the anti–slavery movement to his
environmental ideas. Walden sold moderately well during Thoreau's lifetime, but his greatest
respects came posthumously.Through the reading of Walden, many people have discovered the
magic of Henry David Thoreau's pen. Just a man from Concord, Massachusetts, he lived an
extraordinary life as a simple man. That, however, was all

Thoreau Essay example
Henry David Thoreau was man of simplicity, and if he were to experience life in Cary, he would
not only be surprised, but disappointed in humanity itself. Thoreau believed in the necessities of
life, nothing more, and the people of Cary live lives exactly the opposite. Cary residents live lives
of material possessions, business, and over–complexity. These traits of society are precisely opposite
of Thoreau's...show more content...
Indeed, we toil the best of our days, and "fritter away our lives by detail. ( )", in order to earn the
perishable items we acquire by destroying the ever resilient gift we have been given. We all live
"meanly, likes ants... ( )", and we forget to stop and look at our lives from a different perspective.
In fact, our minds are constipated with thoughts we entertain to feel important, and do the job, to
once again achieve greatness through our "things." Our lives are so complex for such unjust
reasons, and we all ponder the question that a wise man once asked, "why, should we live with such
hurry and waste of life? ( )"
Furthermore, our lives are lived so shallowly and are filled with the frail, irrelevant things, and not
the pulp of life. We think of time as the last peanut butter remaining in the jar we go scraping for,
whereas Thoreau views time as "the stream I go a–fishing in. ( )" Thoreau stresses simplicity, yet we
only feel important by living complexity. The people of Cary live lives almost equivalent to that of
bees. We work hard, but relax almost never. We have five televisions, but not five minutes to spare.
In the eyes of the people of Cary, complexity is modern.
Again, Thoreau would look upon Cary as a symbol of the society of disgrace, for we are constantly
conquered by our schedules, obsessed with our toys, and

Thoreau and Transcendentalism Essays
Followers of the Transcendentalist movement stressed the religious, philosophical and ideological
importance of life. Henry David Thoreau was a staunch supporter of the movement. Thoreau felt
that a person lived a good life by following his conscience and instincts. He also felt that
materialism was a sure way to distract a person from leading a good and moral life. Thoreau
proposed for the government to be involved in as little of a citizen's life as possible; he felt too
much government control just complicated a person's life. Like most Transcendentalists, Thoreau
believed there was a direct connection to God through nature. If a person appreciated nature he
would gain a higher understanding of God. Finally, Thoreau encouraged...show more content...
Instead, Thoreau built a simple but efficient cabin and furnished it with the basic necessity of a
bed, table, chairs and desk. He also didn't waste his time and energy trying to keep up with the
latest fashions; he wore comfortable and long lasting clothes. Thoreau explained to his readers that
this simplistic way of life decreased the dreariness of every day life and left more time to explore
one's meaning of life and his role in the world. Freeing oneself from the economic race, Thoreau
argued, allowed for individual to be inspired by nature and focus on the genuine concerns of life. In
Thoreau's Civil Disobedience, he argues that when civil laws conflict with an individual's morality,
the individual should follows his conscience. Thoreau like many Transcendentalists felt a less
involved government was best. Thoreau wrote, "That government is best which governs not at all."
Obviously, Thoreau realized that he could afford to take this open opinion on government because of
the American government. But he felt that government's authority should be limited to physical
matters of the country, such as infrastructure and orderliness. He felt a government that become
involved in moral matters such as sobriety and slavery was a government over–stepping its
boundaries. Ultimately, Thoreau and other transcendentalists felt a utopian society would be the best.

Thoreau Essay

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Thoreau Essay